Reuters news service is now reporting an update on the ongoing interim Super Hornet issue. It reports that Canada last month attempted to end the dispute with Boeing Co. by suggesting it could withdraw a threat not to buy Super Hornet jets if the U.S. firm dropped a trade challenge against Bombardier Inc.

I don’t know if this is exactly a great revelation though. The position of the Liberal government since April/May – when it put the brakes on the Super Hornet deal – has been pretty much that. Drop the complaint about Bombardier or we won’t buy the Super Hornets.

Boeing has complained to the U.S. government that Bombardier is receiving subsidies, which in turn, allowed it to sell its C-Series civilisn aircraft at below-market prices. Boeing convinced the U.S. Commerce Department and International Trade Commission to launch an investigation into Bombardier.

The Trudeau government revealed Tuesday that it held talks last month with Boeing in hopes of convincing the U.S. aerospace giant to drop its case against Bombardier at the U.S. Commerce Department.

Those talks broke down when, according to Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., David MacNaughton, Boeing decided to stop negotiating. “We had some proposals back and forth and then they walked away,” MacNaughton said in St. John’s, where federal cabinet ministers were meeting to strategize before the return of Parliament next week. “For whatever reason, they (Boeing) decided they weren’t going to continue to have discussions with us.”

Boeing has repeatedly argued that military purchases shouldn’t be linked to the commercial interests of a country’s aerospace firm.

On Sept. 25 we will get a better idea of the outcome of this dispute. That’s when the initial ruling on whether the U.S. will impose tarrifs on Bombardier for its civilian C-Series aircraft will be released.